Surely God is With Us

[00:00:02] Speaker A: If that's going to the gas station and some. And God's leading you to share with the person that pumping gas crossed from share. If it's to just be faithful as a pastor, a Sunday school teacher, children's church work, whatever the case may be, be faithful where you are and share and show the love of Christ, that's all you. I mean, it's not complicated. [00:00:28] Speaker B: House, drive by the house three per day. [00:00:31] Speaker C: Nobody drives by their house. [00:00:33] Speaker B: You got. [00:00:34] Speaker C: They're at the end of a long drive, about a half a mile driveway. So they're nowhere and they still decorate. Mom and dad. [00:00:41] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:00:42] Speaker A: Oh, I was going to say if I'm at the end of a mile, half a mile driveway, it's going to be a reef on the door. And that's about it. According to some folks that, that go to church here. Looks like you've been spending more time on your leaves than you are your lights because I've been getting my leaves. [00:00:57] Speaker B: Up in November to get to start decorating. [00:01:01] Speaker A: Oh, is that right? I got, I got some garland on the hand handrail and then I got reefs. But now the inside is decorated. Renee goes all out on the inside. She don't care about the outside. It's a lot like the Lord. [00:01:14] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:01:15] Speaker C: Well, before Kenny starts stacking peanut boxes, welcome to the other 167 Christmas edition. This will be Christmas edition. [00:01:21] Speaker A: Anyway, brought to you by and sponsored today by Mackie's fairies. Peanuts. [00:01:25] Speaker C: After last week, I mean, I thought we kind of got our peanut fix and I come in here and it is a absolute peanut buffet. We've got pepper, chocolate, planters, every peanut known, known to man here. And just for your sake, I'm going to say that they were half eating when it got. [00:01:42] Speaker A: Yes, it was. [00:01:43] Speaker C: We, we. [00:01:43] Speaker A: We did. We, we did bad. But I will say this. I. Yeah, I'm. I'm so thankful nobody on this show has a nut allergy. We'd be hurt. Have. [00:01:55] Speaker B: And these are good. [00:01:57] Speaker A: They are delicious. [00:01:58] Speaker C: So I've started watching this, but I haven't finished it yet. Have you watched the first Christmas special, Kevin Costner nearby. [00:02:05] Speaker A: You know what? I did not. I was very interested in it, but I just didn't have a chance. I thought it came on tonight. [00:02:13] Speaker C: No, it came on last Tuesday night. [00:02:16] Speaker A: It was last. [00:02:17] Speaker C: Was it last Tuesday? [00:02:18] Speaker A: I know it's supposed to come over Tuesday night, but I thought it must. [00:02:21] Speaker B: Have been last Tuesday. [00:02:22] Speaker C: I was thinking it was a Sunday because coming on again tonight, maybe it's dreaming on like Disney or something. [00:02:28] Speaker A: Yeah, I know, it's streaming on Hulu at Disney. [00:02:30] Speaker C: I've been trying, so I have not. [00:02:32] Speaker A: Seen it, but I'd love to discuss it if you want to ask questions. [00:02:36] Speaker C: Well, I just was curious. I mean it's a given a little bit different perspective on it than, you know, it's little things like, you know, it doesn't necessarily say in the Bible how hazardous the trip for Mary and Joseph would have been. And, and some of the. Behind the. I want to say behind the scenes, but kind of some of the things that might not have, might not that you don't know. [00:02:58] Speaker A: And, and some of that's extracurricular. Kind of like what we talked about Sunday with the, with the Magi. [00:03:04] Speaker C: If I'm not mistaken, he said something about the Magi and that it's not necessarily what. That's not in the Bible. It was funny because I was hearing it from two different places. I was listening to your sermon and watching that around the same time. I was like, this is a common theme. [00:03:15] Speaker A: And they do they. Legend has signed those magi nicknames and names. We don't have any record of that. Now there might be something. Who knows, they might have found three Babylonian sages that named that and said, oh, that must be them. But there's nothing in Bible gives their name. But doggone if you don't. Casper, Melchor and Balthazar is the. Is the three names. [00:03:40] Speaker C: Yeah. I've enjoyed watching what I've gotten through. I think about halfway through it probably, but it's one of the things that I was thinking about. You know, we. We spend a lot of time thinking about the sacrifice that Jesus made and you know, the dying for our sins is certainly the. His biggest act of love. But one thing I've never really thought about a lot is just leaving heaven and coming down here in the first place was a heck of an act of. [00:04:03] Speaker A: Act of love. [00:04:03] Speaker C: When you consider what he gave up to kind. You ever have to do one of those things, you have to go on a trip or you have to go somewhere you don't want to be at or you got to go sit somewhere for a long time. You just really. Just dreading it. [00:04:14] Speaker A: In his office. [00:04:15] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:04:15] Speaker C: Something. [00:04:16] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:04:17] Speaker C: I mean, I imagine for considering what he gave up to come here, this is not exactly a great place to chill out for 30 some years compared to what he had. [00:04:26] Speaker A: It really is. I mean it's a beautiful world. God created it. But at the same time, compared to the glories of heaven. [00:04:31] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:04:31] Speaker A: Okay. It's a stinker of A place. So you got that. Then on top of that is being not with your father in a physical face to face or spirit to spirit relationship. That's a different thing. [00:04:44] Speaker C: And he didn't have, even by, you know, human standards, an easy life. Born into poverty. And I mean, it wasn't a. [00:04:52] Speaker A: No, he wasn't born in a palace. [00:04:54] Speaker C: That's right. That. Yeah. I mean, he. His life was a hard life, I guess you'd say it. And that. That's just, I don't know, a sacrifice to be. To be amongst humanity and to get to be with us. I don't know. I guess it was just a different way of thinking about the love that he has. [00:05:13] Speaker A: That. And then take that. All that you just said. But you're right. But then why did he do it for his enemy? We basically were enmity against God. We were at wrath or war with God. We had turned our back to God and yet he was willing to come for. I mean, that's the, you know, you stop and think about it. I might sacrifice. It'd be tough. I might sacrifice my son for one of you guys. At the same time, if. For somebody that either hates me or has turned against me or. I don't even know. [00:05:48] Speaker B: Mm. [00:05:49] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:05:50] Speaker A: I don't see that happening. So you do see the extent and the. The extremity of God's love. [00:05:57] Speaker C: Yeah. Once in a while. We've talked a lot lately, it seems like, about how we're real bad to look for signs and we always want to have the big supernatural signs. But I had something happen last week that was one of those little signs. You didn't. I said a prayer and before I could not say Amen, I got a response. I don't know how much of it is, but it was almost like a red receipt on a text. God gave me a little like, yeah, I heard you. [00:06:19] Speaker B: I was. [00:06:20] Speaker C: I was listening to that. [00:06:20] Speaker A: Like that. [00:06:21] Speaker C: But I was talking to somebody about. A lot of people have been kind of driven away from faith by the church and by hyper religious people and, you know, the. A lot of people in the church can act like Pharisees and things like that. And we had had a conversation about it that day and I was praying about a little bit later on that day, and one of my clients texted me, and he's someone. We've not had a lot of whole, you know, really deep conversations. I know he's a Christian. He knows I am, but there hadn't been a whole lot more to it than that. [00:06:48] Speaker A: Right. [00:06:48] Speaker C: And he just randomly Starts sending me like his quiet time notes for the day. And he sends me this text at about five o' clock in the afternoon. And his quiet time notes was almost a paraphrase of what I had just prayed basically about, you know, please don't let me be a stumbling block for others by. By not representing you. And, you know, please. I think he used the word please don't let me be Jesus repellent to anyone else. And it was just such an ironic thing because it was exactly what I had just been praying about for an hour probably before I got the text. And then I get home and get this text from him. Like, what possessed him to send this to me at this particular time? That also kind of gets me thinking, though. Everybody in church knows Jesus's character, what he was about, what was important to him, what the type of people he hung out with. We all know the stories of the Pharisees and all that kind of stuff. [00:07:45] Speaker A: Reason, right. [00:07:47] Speaker C: Why do so many people in the church forget that and act the absolute opposite? I mean, is it just human nature? Is it just. I mean, I don't know, I don't understand how people that are. It's just so ironic to me that the whole pillar of Christianity is on love and not judging others and forgiveness and all these things. And then you get a bunch of people that believe in that put together, all of a sudden they start judging like crazy sometimes. And it's, it's. [00:08:17] Speaker A: I don't know, I think it is human nature. I think it also is, you know, to, to go back. We always kind of go back to those chapters, but either walking by the spirit or walking by the flesh. And the flesh is real, it doesn't die, we don't have to serve it, but it's still there. And so I think that's part of it, of how much are you going to serve of the flesh versus are you going to feed the spirit? Are you going to feed the flesh? And then when you get into the flesh, it's just easy. And once somebody gets into it, if you're in a group, unless somebody puts a stop to it for long, boy, it becomes easier and easier for everybody to do it. [00:08:55] Speaker B: Yeah, I think one thing too is we forget what God's done for us. There's a story about that, that Jesus said about he forgave the debts of one person. [00:09:09] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:09:09] Speaker B: And the guy turned around and somebody else at him and he put him in jail. So. So we can, we don't. Sometimes we forget where God brought us from, where we could have been, yeah. You know, but it's easy to criticize somebody else, but it's hard to criticize yourself. [00:09:26] Speaker A: But that is a bad spot though, that, that if you, you get to where you begin to forget what, what God done for you, that, that's, that's where a lot of trouble starts. [00:09:37] Speaker B: And now you know better. And I mean, I, I just for my own self, I'm talking about myself. You know, sometimes I've criticized people for doing something. I'm doing the same thing. [00:09:47] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:09:48] Speaker B: But I can't see it. My eyes. [00:09:50] Speaker C: Well, I always find myself in that trap a little bit where I'm, I'm upset after that conversation the other day, thinking about someone being kind of pushed away from God by somebody else being judgmental and being just, just not representing the, the fruit at all. [00:10:10] Speaker A: Right. [00:10:10] Speaker C: In the way they've acted. And then you start to pray about that a little bit. And by the, about, you know, 15, 20 minutes into the prayer, you start to realize that you're judging the person, that you're, you're judging the person for judging somebody else. And it's like, oh man, now I'm doing the exact same thing on another level. And I struggle with that one so much because it's like, you know, we talk a lot about self righteousness and not being judgmental. And one of the things that I'm the worst at is being judgmental on those who judge others. [00:10:34] Speaker B: Yeah, everybody is, I, I, we need to always remember where God brought us from. And then we wouldn't be so quickly, we wouldn't be so quick to judge other people. [00:10:46] Speaker A: But I agree with you, it is, it is easier to judge those who judge others. [00:10:52] Speaker C: We almost feel like that one's okay because that's what Jesus did. He did talk, he was very confrontational with the judgmental people. So we kind of feel like, well, that's okay. Jesus would have been mad at that. [00:11:03] Speaker A: Well, you got to be able to spot a hypocrite. That's right. Don't be hypocritical in spot. And how you go about doing that, that's a whole nother story. Because you know somebody's in the wrong. You should be able to speak and say, that's not right. Yeah, that's, that's part of Galatians 6:1 and 2. You know, that that's part of who we are as, as brothers and sisters in Christ to keep each other accountable. That, but at the same time you got to be careful. [00:11:32] Speaker C: But even that is something we gotta be careful to do in love and in a constructive way. I guess even with the kids, I try to take the time to explain to them I don't do it every single time. But this is why this is important. I know that you think that I'm on your case about this over and over and over again and I am. But there's a reason that eventually always ties back to I love you and I don't want to see whatever comes of this. [00:11:55] Speaker A: And that's the ultimate goal of discipline. It's restoration. And discipline is not always correcting bad behavior. Discipline is also rewarding or acknowledging good behavior. That's the best kind of discipline as a parent is. I am so proud of you the way you did that. That was great. The way you thanked so and so or you used your manners here. That's great. And so rewarding what's good. Correcting what's bad doesn't always involve punishment as much as it involves, hey, guiding, leading and whatnot that way. So that's one of the things to remember when we discipline. Yeah. It's just what. What that's about. [00:12:33] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:12:34] Speaker C: And this might be a meaty subject that can take us a while. I don't know how far we're going to it, but I was thinking this morning about church and I don't want to over categorize, I guess, people, but you've got people in the church that are walking with the Lord. You've got people who go to church who might be sort of lukewarm. Put them in the lukewarm bucket. You've got people who don't go to church very much who don't believe. And you've got people who don't go to church very much that might be, you know, fair weather Christians or lukewarm Christians. I don't think you've got a lot of non believers that go to church that are. I mean there might be some that aren't. [00:13:09] Speaker A: Yeah. That hadn't already probably made a decision about being a non believer. Right. [00:13:14] Speaker C: And then you've got a, I think a big category out there of people who have a strong faith, have a genuine faith, but they don't necessarily go to church all the time. They may not go to church, they may not go at all, depending on how they worship. I do believe that church is a very important part of your faith and an important part of your walk. I also don't believe that, and this might be a controversial thing to say, maybe even in the room that I'm in, but I don't Know that you have to go to church to have a close relationship with God. I think it helps. I don't think it's something necessarily have. [00:13:50] Speaker B: To have, but you don't. I mean, people in there saying, I'm all done. That is close relationship with God. Right. [00:13:56] Speaker C: Well, and here helps. I said this was a media one. I'm gonna go and just dump it all out there and y' all can sort through it. But for me, I've visited a lot of different churches. I feel like I was. One of the reasons I never got all that involved in church until more recently was I was always a guest, it seems like. So we, you know, tried church. Not like it. Trying out. Maybe I'm just too picky. I don't know what it is. But I've been very blessed and I'm very grateful that God led me to Madness Grove originally and get a chance to meet you and then to hear. But at the same time, I kind of appreciate what I'm. I don't know if miracle might be too strong of a word, but it. Good churches are harder. Maybe I'm just. Maybe this is just me, but I feel like good church, a really good church is a little bit harder to find than I would like to think it is. It's not like going into town and finding a good restaurant. If you're talking about, you know, finding the right mix of people, the right passage, preaching the right. The right pastor, preaching the truth. Actually having that culture in a church that is holding accountability to your brothers and sisters in Christ, but also not in a judgmental way. That's a hard balance. Caring and loving, caring and loving and still speaking the truth and not going too extreme either direction. I just feel like it's really. I found a lot of churches that I liked this or I liked that, but not the whole thing to. To put it together. [00:15:19] Speaker A: No jowl. [00:15:19] Speaker C: So I guess that's where I say it's. I think some people may not have found that church. And if. This might be the more controversial thing to say, if you don't find the right church, going to the wrong church can be a detriment or can be a deterrent to your. Your faith if it's the. If it's wrong enough in different ways. [00:15:39] Speaker B: So I don't. [00:15:39] Speaker C: I don't know, just. I think there's a lot of people, maybe even more so today than there were, you know, in years past, that church attendance is down. I think you said in the past does that. [00:15:49] Speaker B: That's in the US in the Us. Okay, so England and England, Europe. [00:15:55] Speaker A: More your modern countries. [00:15:57] Speaker B: Yes. Because they can do. Do they. They had their need of God. I mean, that's what they think. [00:16:04] Speaker C: Right. [00:16:05] Speaker B: Well. [00:16:05] Speaker C: And if someone is trying to think of. There are so many different ways that you can worship and so many different ways that you can feel closest with God, whether it's through, you know, music, watching sermons online, doing. There's plenty of information. Reading the Bible yourself is a huge part of your walk. Praying is a huge part. I guess. Where does church mix into that? In. In that whole formula, so to speak? Because it's. I know you can. I don't get all of my spiritual food from church. I get some from church. I get some from the Bible and I get some from prayer, and I get some from fellowship with other believers. [00:16:41] Speaker A: Exactly. And saying. And from others believers. [00:16:44] Speaker C: That's right. [00:16:45] Speaker B: Yeah. Right. I think that's what I was thinking on the same lines, churches, one of the main functions of the church is being around other believers to encourage you to socialize with. We could say you. You can get your theology on the Internet. Well, you can, some, but there's also a lot of bad theology. [00:17:07] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:17:08] Speaker A: And that goes both ways. [00:17:10] Speaker C: But, yeah, I'm gonna say there's a lot of bad theology in some churches. [00:17:13] Speaker A: There's a lot of bad theology in Sunday school classes. Let's just be honest. You can get into a discussion and. [00:17:18] Speaker B: You'Re not, you know, a church that's good today might not be good two years from now. A bad church that was two years ago might be a good church. Good. [00:17:27] Speaker A: That's right. [00:17:28] Speaker B: So that. Yeah, people are always changing. And the pastor wise, you know, that church had a bad pastor. Well, now they got a good pastor. Or that church had bad people. Now a lot of good people come in there. So to say that one church is bad is correct. But they don't stay bad. But a lot of churches that are good don't stay good. Just depends on who's there. [00:17:50] Speaker A: I think I've heard sometimes bad stays bad, though. [00:17:53] Speaker B: It's hard to get a good church out of bad church. [00:17:55] Speaker A: Yeah, no, you guys got to do a big work. And sometimes. Sometimes you start off so bad or start off down the wrong road. And usually it's a little bit at a time. The churches don't start out just way left usually, or way right. So over time, things happen and things. Decisions are made or just things come in, and then next thing you know, you're way left or way right from where Christ is. [00:18:21] Speaker B: And I will. I will say this leadership does play a major role, whether it's a good church or bad church. Agreed. [00:18:30] Speaker A: A couple of things there with that, with that statement. You also need to take in mind a couple of things. One is the average pastor stays at a church. And this is no joke. This is Baptistry, Baptist world. Three and a half years. [00:18:45] Speaker B: I don't get that. [00:18:47] Speaker A: So now here's the thing. And I've always compared a pastor and the church almost like a marriage as husband and wife in a way, although I've got a wife. But it really is. It is trying to find the right one. When a church is looking for that right pastor, it is almost looking for that leader, that spiritual leader. So it is kind of like a spouse and a husband and wife. So it is. And so if you get a bad one or it's not a good mix or the relationship just doesn't jive, man, it can be terrible. But what oftentimes happens is these, these pastors come in and they're just looking a stepping stone. And I'm looking for the next big church or I want to get to that level of I want a church that's running a thousand because that's where I want to be rather than just be faithful. Where God's called you and if God's called me to be a pastor of 400 and then that grows to 800, I want to be faithful. If God's called me to be the pastor of 400 and it doesn't grow no more than that, then I want to be faithful. But I want to be trying to grow. And sometimes, depending on where you are, growth may not. For instance, we in this area probably have a better chance of growing than First Baptist Duck, North Carolina. I mean, I don't even know if there's a First Baptist Duck. There is, but I mean, there's not much people living there. There's not many people moving there. Yeah, Northeast. [00:20:17] Speaker B: Okay. [00:20:18] Speaker A: But there's not many people living there. Not many people. You know, it's a little bitty podunk town. Is that okay to say? Sorry to me listeners in Duck, North. [00:20:26] Speaker B: Carolina, There's a lot of people there for three months, but yeah, yeah. [00:20:34] Speaker A: But nobody's living there. [00:20:35] Speaker B: Not right now. [00:20:36] Speaker A: Yeah. So growing that church is going to be difficult because you just don't have that same. Versus you living in a metropolis or a city that's constantly moving and people coming in. All right, that's different. So if a church only has that leader for three and a half years, it does. The studies show it really doesn't develop the character of the leader at least seven years is what it says. So I think a tenure for a Baptist pastor ought to be at least seven years. Now, sometimes they're so bad and so hostile or so bad they need to leave. But if you're not there seven years, you don't even hardly have time to develop because we. What are you talking about? We're talking about 52 weeks out of the year that you. That you get to see that pastor. [00:21:21] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:21:21] Speaker A: Now, granted, I see Kenny probably four times a week. I see you at least two to three. [00:21:26] Speaker B: You were blessed. [00:21:29] Speaker A: Yes, indeed. So. So sometimes that's one of the reasons the church is so weak now is because it hadn't had a good solid pastor and a good solid leader for a long time to guide it and steer it and teach it. So that's one that just goes to what you said going. How the question started was, okay, yeah, I'll agree with you to some degree. I ain't gotta be in church every Sunday. That's legalism. At the same time, my question to anybody that doesn't want to be in church is, well, why don't you want to be in church? I mean, we always put the emphasis on, well, you could be anywhere you want, but why would you want to? Because it's in the church that. That's God's greenhouse, if you will, that God has planted that seed in you. And the church is the greenhouse that helps it to grow, to fertilize it, to keep it warm. To have other Christians come beside you and speak into your life. To have other Christians come beside you and help you to understand passages. I mean, you need. We are not made to be lone rangers. We are made for community. We need that. And if you're not getting that, then you're not experiencing the full growth and the full strength of walking with the Lord. I mean, it's just. Yeah, you can still have a great time worshiping and you can have a great time out fishing and thinking about the Lord. I get that. But you still need brothers and sisters in Christ that are going to speak into your life or to challenge you or, hey, look, heaven forbid the bottom drop out. I mean. Cause they will. I mean, there's going to be a time when we're all going to need somebody sometime. And man, if I hadn't got those friends or that, that. That bond of brothers and sisters in Christ to lean upon, that's one of the reasons, man, I love the church is because I know, man, if Something happens to me, I know some family, I'm going to be taken care of. Why? Because of the body of Christ. [00:23:32] Speaker B: And I like, you know, I want to be around people that. That believe like me, think like me. Like when I just said, you're blessed, y' all knew what I was talking about. [00:23:41] Speaker C: Yeah. Well, if I said we knew. Yeah. [00:23:45] Speaker B: I mean, if I was at Panera, which I very seldom go. [00:23:48] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:23:49] Speaker C: A couple times a day at most. [00:23:51] Speaker A: They wouldn't even know that. Peanuts. I need to go. Use your drink. Yeah. [00:23:55] Speaker B: I mean, I very seldom go there. But they wouldn't know what I was talking about. That's. [00:24:00] Speaker C: Come on. [00:24:01] Speaker A: But not. [00:24:01] Speaker B: No, I'm talking about in general. [00:24:03] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:24:04] Speaker B: Like all my neighbors, I don't have anything common with them because they're just. [00:24:08] Speaker C: From other places they've been. [00:24:10] Speaker A: Willow Spring. [00:24:10] Speaker B: Right. Yeah. But, yeah, we. We think alike. I know what he's talking about when he's saying, you know, something. That I'm. Eternity or whatever. [00:24:21] Speaker A: I know. Sanctification. [00:24:22] Speaker B: Yeah. We have our own language. And I want to be around people that I feel comfortable with. [00:24:27] Speaker A: Right. [00:24:28] Speaker B: That take an interest in me, and I take interest in them, and I don't find that in the world. Well. [00:24:34] Speaker C: And, man, I'm trying not to be too wordy today because I got a lot. [00:24:37] Speaker A: You can. But it ain't real. [00:24:39] Speaker B: Well, yeah, it's always. Always trying to get. Get ahead. Yeah. [00:24:43] Speaker A: It's a false city. [00:24:43] Speaker B: It's always about making money. [00:24:45] Speaker C: So a few. A few things to that number. Let me get back to this first. And I don't know if this is necessarily true or not. I don't know if there's another church in Wake county that I could have joined that I would. That would have led to me being as active in the church as I am here. [00:25:05] Speaker B: Right. [00:25:06] Speaker C: I think just. Just from knowing you, starting this thing, getting to know Kenny on Thursday mornings and being invited to this and getting to know people in that. I just don't know if I were going. And that's. You can't prove it one way or the other. I've not been to all the churches. [00:25:22] Speaker B: I don't know. [00:25:22] Speaker C: But I'm just saying that it's a rare thing for me to find a church that I like as much as I've love being a part of this. And that's a. And again, I've. I think I've been a member of, I guess, three churches. [00:25:33] Speaker B: Right. [00:25:33] Speaker C: One, I was only really going for about a year before I went to college. [00:25:36] Speaker A: Right. [00:25:36] Speaker C: I visited a Few churches that I kind of liked, not, you know, nothing that I was all that pumped about. I do remember when I started going to Baptist Grove. Heather and I had visited several churches at that time. And I remember since we left Baptist Groves, I really like that. I want to go there more. But to me it's just, it's. It's kind of rare. So for someone who is searching for a church or for someone who I think some people don't. There's a lot of different reasons people don't go to church. I think there are some people that don't go to churches because they haven't found the right one. [00:26:04] Speaker A: Right. [00:26:04] Speaker C: And I do think that going to the wrong one can cause harm. You're never. Nothing bad is. If you look at, I think I've heard you say this before, is like a three legged stool. You need your, you need Bible time, you need prayer time, you need a church. Yeah, okay, well, the church is the only one of those that is pretty much it's going to have the most involvement from other humans. [00:26:25] Speaker A: Right. [00:26:25] Speaker C: Wild card Bible is straight from God, prayer straight to God. You get to a church, you get a lot of human contamination. [00:26:33] Speaker A: And it's finding the right kind of church that. And I always tell people when you are looking at church, there's a couple things that I recommend that first and foremost, beyond any other one is, all right, are they teaching the Bible? All right, is it good, solid biblical teaching if it didn't leave. Sorry, just there's no other. There's nothing else that can make up for that. I think that's number one with a bullet. Number two, is it a friendly and welcoming place? When I come into the doors, do I feel like somebody wants me here or at least somebody knows my name and somebody went out of their way to say, good morning, man, how you doing? You know, I want that. I recommend that anyway. Number three. I think the. And probably I'd put number three above number two is okay, now I want to begin to look where I can serve. Think one of the things that you had, you just said about Fuqua Baptist. It could have happened somewhere else. It just, it the Lord lined it up so that, okay, you knew the pastor and you know, we've had a relationship that you know that we've known each other for a long time. So you came into that. Number two is you met a lot of good people. You also went out of your way to go to a Thursday morning Bible study. That's the other thing for folks, if you're looking at church find you one that makes it easy to go to and do stuff. Because if you live 70 miles away, I doubt you're going to go on Wednesday night. Right. If you live 70 miles away, I doubt you're going to go a 30 Thursday morning Bible study. It makes it very difficult. And if you, that's where you build those relationships like with a Kenny or someone else in there. That man, y' all really. And then think about your, the Bible study you do on Tuesday nights. You've gotten to where you know all those guys and those guys are pretty sharp scripturally and they help you and you help them. That's, that's, that's what you're looking for is that stickiness, that sincerity and that love that is there for one another. And it, this a place where I can serve sometimes. And this is the thing is, and this is a debate I get into with my father in law sometimes that, you know, he's all about the mega church now or bigger, Bigger, bigger church. He wants a church with a thousand because they can do so much. And I'm like, yeah, but you can also do some things churches with 200 can do just as much sometimes. And he was like, no, it ain't as you don't have as much opportunity to serve. Yeah, you do. And I threw up. I said, I don't know of a church in America that don't need nursery workers. That's serving. Well, not everybody's called to be a nursery worker. And you know, we went back and forth and I said, well, why not? You know, you can serve one month out of the year, can't you? Or one month out of. One week out of the month. Come on, man. And so it went back and forth. It was fun. At the same time, I'm of the notion that, hey, I don't care if the church is running 50 or 10,000, find you a place where you can serve. Not be a face in the crowd, not just be somebody just comes and goes, find you a place you can serve. And then that sometimes can be hard in a smaller church just as much as it is in a larger church. Because sometimes in the smaller church, well, that's my job. I've been doing that job for 75 years. [00:30:07] Speaker B: That's ownership. [00:30:08] Speaker A: Yep. [00:30:09] Speaker C: Well, on flip side to that is mine. [00:30:14] Speaker A: Yeah. And, and we've seen that. I mean, you see that in no matter what size church, honestly, it can happen. Yeah. And, and to some degree, hey, it can happen with your pastor, it can happen with staff. But okay, wait A minute. I've been doing this job for this way for so long. We can't change it. Well, I don't want to change it. Yeah, well, maybe God's wanting to change it. I don't know. [00:30:35] Speaker C: Well, and I can. I'll play maybe devil's advocate a little bit here and say, because I kind of presenting one side of the. The argument here and saying, well, you don't need a good. I'm not trying to make it sound like you don't need a church. And church. The flip side of it is that from my experience with it, it's not an overnight thing where, you know, just you walk in one day and all of a sudden you got 25 new friends. But I did look up the other day. I can't remember when this was maybe my birthday. You know, you get a lot of texts on your birthday or whatever. There was some port in time that I looked at my phone. It was like eight of the last 12 people that had text me were from the church. Yeah, something like that. And it's like they're not just, you know, hey, how you doing on Sunday morning. Relationships, they've become. This is vegans, friendships. [00:31:17] Speaker A: This is somebody, I hate to say it, this is somebody you can call in the middle of the night if you had to. Yeah. [00:31:24] Speaker C: And it's, you know, I got Doug trying to help me with my recording software. Brandon texts me all the time during football games. You know, there's. You start to. It's not all. Every text that's exchanged back and forth between the people you meet in church are always going to be about the Bible. [00:31:38] Speaker A: It ain't Bible verses, but you. [00:31:39] Speaker C: It's. [00:31:40] Speaker A: It has. [00:31:41] Speaker C: I have definitely experienced that benefit. Maybe that's the, the one of the triggers for bringing it up. Is this really the first time that I've gotten to enjoy that side of church? [00:31:51] Speaker A: Right. [00:31:52] Speaker C: And I guess I'm just, you know, trying to think through like, well, what other than just the obvious, that it's just God doing his thing? What's. What is special about this church? What's special about the. And what's. How do people who don't have that find it or, you know, what is. And I don't know how to put my finger. It's just God did it. That's the answer. I'm just saying for someone who's looking, it's. [00:32:17] Speaker A: It's. [00:32:18] Speaker C: Well, I think it's harder. I do think it's harder to find a good church that I wish it was. I wish it was as easy as finding a good steakhouse in Tampa, but it feels like it's hard to find. [00:32:30] Speaker B: What I hear, and I hear it a lot, is this church is the most loving church they've been to either a long time or ever. And that's not. That's not because of him, that's not because of me. That's just because of all of us. I had that the other day, actually. Was it either Sunday or the Sunday before? I'm not sure where someone told me, but yeah, man, I love this church. I want to keep coming back. The best church I've ever been to, but I think it's all of us. [00:33:03] Speaker A: And it is everybody. I mean, you can't. I think it's one of those things of. And I want to stress to people, you can't be just me, myself and I and be a genuine Christian. You've got to be about your eyes, have got to be focused on others and their hurts and their. Compare their needs and. And be compassionate towards them because if it's just I care less. [00:33:28] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:33:29] Speaker A: That's going to be a cold, dead church for long. [00:33:31] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:33:31] Speaker B: I mean, you're going to have your bad people in that. Bad. I wouldn't say bad, but you're going. [00:33:36] Speaker A: To have people that aren't as compassionate. [00:33:38] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:33:39] Speaker A: And you're going to have some people that are. I can't believe all this growth and I've lost my pew. You know, there's too many people in here. I can't sit where I always sit or I got to go sit in the balcony or I got to go do this now. [00:33:50] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:33:51] Speaker A: You know, that's going to require sacrifice, too, that if you want to continue to love and grow, you got to be willing to sacrifice. Because it ain't going to always be easy because the more people you have, the more problems you have. Yeah. [00:34:04] Speaker B: I mean, usually a good church is one. There are people that complain, but it's on the lower end part. [00:34:10] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:34:11] Speaker B: Percentage wise, the higher. [00:34:13] Speaker A: That's where you want it. [00:34:14] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. But you. I mean, God loves them too. [00:34:19] Speaker A: It's not as much. [00:34:22] Speaker B: That's all I have to say. I. I can't say anything else. Up to him too. [00:34:26] Speaker A: Yeah. That's a good way to do it. Yeah. [00:34:29] Speaker B: I try. [00:34:33] Speaker A: As best I can. [00:34:34] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:34:34] Speaker C: I really want to make a T shirt that says God says Jesus says. [00:34:37] Speaker A: I have to love you. [00:34:38] Speaker C: Please stop making it so hard. [00:34:39] Speaker A: Yeah. Don't make it. [00:34:43] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:34:43] Speaker C: Did you happen to. I know I text you this song a while back. Did you ever Listen to what I sent you. God loves country music. Something like that. [00:34:49] Speaker A: Yes. [00:34:50] Speaker C: That was a. Just a cool. Funny. It's. It's true, but it's funny. It's talking about the. And it kind of does relate a little bit to what we were saying earlier about people forgetting about what Jesus was about. But everything he says in that song is true. When you look at the things that he's. He talked about the way he taught, he didn't teach in a way that was necessarily targeting the academics. He was targeting the. What was it you called him Sunday morning? The mat. The sky gazing bookworms. [00:35:16] Speaker A: That was the Magi. [00:35:17] Speaker C: The Magi, yeah. [00:35:18] Speaker A: Yeah. The sky is sky gazing bookworm. [00:35:21] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:35:22] Speaker A: The best way to put it. [00:35:22] Speaker C: He was Jesus's entire. I don't know if personality is the right word, but to whatever extent you can draw from Jesus, draw from scripture to paint a picture of Jesus personality. He was an everyday person, so to speak, in terms of how he. [00:35:38] Speaker B: He. [00:35:38] Speaker C: That's who he hung out with. [00:35:39] Speaker B: Yeah, that's who. [00:35:40] Speaker A: He's a sinners. Right. I mean he was friends of them. So much so that the leaders had to say, I can't believe you hanging out with them people. [00:35:49] Speaker B: Right. [00:35:49] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:35:50] Speaker A: And I just thought. I just don't think you're able to hang out with those people and be a stick in the mud. [00:35:56] Speaker C: And that's where I think that it's. And I'm not making much of a point here because it's something I'm still trying to figure or you know, work to myself with it. But I'm trying to remember that about him instead of. I'm really bad to look at. To forget how loving and accepting and even. And I mean, I ought to know, you know, at this point I ought to know that it's pretty fundamental thing. But it's easy to forget just how again, what we talked about before. He knows everything. He loves you anyway. Nothing that you do bad surprises him. Nothing good that happens surprises anything in between. And. And he's not looking for you to get. You can if you want to, but it's not about how. How nice you dress to go to church, how eloquently you pray, how fast you can read, how deep your spiritual. [00:36:43] Speaker A: Knowledge verses you got memorized. [00:36:45] Speaker C: That's right. Just be. [00:36:47] Speaker B: Be. [00:36:47] Speaker C: That was the thing I loved about that client. He's a guy from Texas and he's. He talks in. In the text that he sends me. It's basically a copy and paste of his prayer. Right. And if that's A true representative. Then he talks to God like he talks to me. He uses these Texas slang and all these different things, and I love that. I just want to genuine. [00:37:04] Speaker A: Well, I think that's the way it needs to be. [00:37:05] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:37:06] Speaker A: There's a song. What you're saying there's a song that. One of my favorite artists of all time, and I believe I've mentioned him on the show. If I haven't, shame on me. Is Rich Mullins. [00:37:16] Speaker B: Oh, okay. [00:37:18] Speaker A: All right. Yes. One day long, Step by step, Amy. [00:37:26] Speaker B: Grant made a hit out of I Can't Think. [00:37:29] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, there's numerous. If you knew all the songs he wrote, you'd be amazed. Rich Mullins was an interesting guy, and I loved him just for the simple reason of he could have been a multimillionaire probably many times over. But when it came time for him to negotiate his contract, he said, just pay me what the average construction worker makes. He lived on the Indian reservation, didn't live fancy. Just pay me what the average guy makes. I mean, he had royalty after royalty, after royalty, and he sung a song. He went and he made a demo album, like, two weeks before he died. He went to a church and played it on an old rust. I mean, you can tell it just sounds terrible. And it's almost like he had a recorder. He hit record and just started playing. Well, they then took those songs and turned them into somebody. They let stars sing them because they realized, well, one, it's Rich Mullins, number two. And then he died in a car accident between that time. And he's got a song that is called Surely God is With Us. And I love the song. And I'll never forget the first time I heard the song. I was like, I can't believe he just said that. And it is basically the Pharisees saying, who's this man? He says he's a prophet. Who's this man? He's disturbing all our peace. Well, the course goes like this. It says, the whores all seem to love him, and the drunks propose a toast. And I remember hearing that, thinking, that's exactly what he did. I wanted to get like, I can't believe he just used the word horse and drunks. But at the same time, it was the drunks and the prostitutes that he was friends with. And surely God is with us. And, man, I'm telling you, that was one of those songs. That first time I heard it, I couldn't believe it. Then the more I listened to it, I try to play it all the time, because when you hear the song, you'll see it's got some of Jesus's teachings in there. Basically, he goes through the Beatitudes. Know who can teach like this? Blessed are the poor in spirit, for heaven belongs to them. I mean, he just goes through the Beatitudes. And I'm like, Rich Mullins was a sharp, sharp guy that loved the Lord. But that song helped me to see Jesus more on the human side than some. Some guy that has come to judge. Some guy that has just, you know, has brought wrath upon us. [00:39:53] Speaker C: So let's. We'd like. I. I think we all like to jump on the Pharisees and pick on them a little bit for how much they missed it and all this kind of stuff. [00:40:01] Speaker B: But. [00:40:01] Speaker C: But think about that for a second. Let's take you, for example. You're a pastor. Not the. I mean, I'm not trying to compare you to. [00:40:07] Speaker A: No, no. The more affairs say, I hope that's. [00:40:09] Speaker C: What we're all trying to go. That's right. But what would people think about you if your click were prostitutes and drunk? [00:40:18] Speaker A: Yeah, if I was out or if I went, you know. No doubt, no doubt. [00:40:21] Speaker C: There's a difference between being nice to somebody on the street, that you pass somebody and you don't judge them. But it didn't say he tolerated the drunks and the pro. He was. It says he was a friend. Friends with him. [00:40:31] Speaker B: Right. [00:40:32] Speaker A: And. And it's one of, you know, I'm hesitating on saying this story because it's true, and I want to protect the innocent, but nobody has to know names. I'm pastor. I won't even say which church I was at that maybe that'll throw a mystery. I was at a function with a bunch of guys, and all of a sudden they said, hey, let's go get us a beer. And. And I remember just kind of chuckling on the inside because they said, once you go with us, Ben, to them, it didn't mean anything. Yeah. You know, and I told him, I said, boys, I gotta get home. You know, I'd love to. I said, I tell you what, let's go get lunch next week. You know, But. But I wasn't gonna. Oh, I can't believe I will go and do that. [00:41:21] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:41:21] Speaker A: Because I know where they are in their walk. At the same time, I know where I don't need to be, per se. But if I was there. Okay, as long as. I mean, I may be having a tea, it doesn't matter. But I think it's one of. I laugh at it. Because one, I felt like, okay, they see me as approachable, that they would even invite me because I wasn't nowhere near their age. So, I mean, I'd be like, who's the old guy? At the same time, it is one of those of. I wouldn't necessarily say no. I just felt like at that time, nah, we're good. [00:41:58] Speaker C: Well, and that's the. On some level, it might even be the point that you have a responsibility maybe in a way that, you know, if. If you people were to see you out at a bar drinking a tea, tear them up. [00:42:10] Speaker B: That's what I was thinking. [00:42:11] Speaker C: Then they're going to sit there and start to look at you and say, what are you there? But see, this is where I'm. If we're taking the Bible literally, where was Jesus at? [00:42:21] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:42:21] Speaker C: I mean, I think we would be wrong for judging a pastor for being at a bar with people that were drinking at the same time. That's exactly one of the reasons that you wouldn't do it. [00:42:31] Speaker A: But Paul says, be in not of right. And I think that all goes back to. It goes back to your own walk with the Lord. I think it all goes back to the liberty you have in Christ. At the same time, it goes back to the responsibility you have as a leader that, hey, I need to make sure I'm putting forward the Christ at his best. Because trooping on as. As a pastor and anybody, truly. But you represent Christ, and I kind of have to represent him more than anybody else. You do at the same time, but we all do. I mean, that's everybody. I mean, you represent Christ to that church. I mean, they're looking at you saying, I want. Maybe not. [00:43:12] Speaker B: I don't. [00:43:12] Speaker A: I want my Christ to be like that. But they should be able to see Christ in you. Just to say, no, that's being Christlike. [00:43:19] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:43:20] Speaker A: I mean, I remember being a kid, the pastors I had thinking, oh, man, they are, you know, higher than, you know. But I also saw them as inapproachable. Yeah. I didn't see them as being very friendly, per se. Even though they knew me, they knew my parents and they would come over to supper and everything. But I never saw them as being. They were almost too holy and not real. Yeah. I could not see this guy going to a football game. [00:43:47] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:43:47] Speaker A: I could not see that guy wanting to go fishing or just do anything. I could not see that guy doing anything with me. [00:43:54] Speaker C: Well, and that's one of the hardest things that I've found to balance in two Two different ways of saying. And they kind of mean the same thing. Be of the world, not be in the world, not of the world. And it's also back to what we said a bunch of times about the, the grace and falling somewhere between the legalism and the grace. [00:44:13] Speaker A: Right. [00:44:14] Speaker C: Because I have found myself. I found myself sneaking way too far to the legalism side more than I ever thought I would have. [00:44:22] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:44:23] Speaker C: Because I was as anti legalist probably, if there was a. If that's a word as you could be. And it is. And then sometimes I float where I give myself a little bit too much grace too. And then I give a little bit too legalistic and then a little bit too much grace. And there's times that I start to feel like I'm a little bit of a stuffy Pharisee and don't want to do anything with anybody because I don't want their siblings they're sending to rub off me or whatever. And then there's times that I, you know, hang out and do things, probably shouldn't do that. It's, you know, maybe it's good thing nobody was watching. So it's, it's a hard thing to balance. But you know, I was thinking about, we talk about serving in ministries and things like that. Think about this morning. Every one of us, our life is its own ministry. It's every single thing that we're doing, whether we're at the grocery store, wherever we're playing golf, wherever, wherever we are, whatever we're doing, it's its own ministry. [00:45:17] Speaker A: It's the living worship service. Right. Of Galatians 2, 19 and 20. [00:45:20] Speaker C: Now, every one of our personalities is a little different. It's going to flesh itself out a little differently in the way you, in the, in the situations you might be in. There might be some situations that you might be in that I wouldn't want to be in or vice versa. Everybody's going to be a little different in, you know, their, their own just makeup, I guess. [00:45:38] Speaker A: Right. [00:45:39] Speaker C: But that representing trying to be like Jesus regardless of the circumstance is the thing that is that I try to do. I think that's what we're trying to do is wherever we're put, try to represent him. [00:45:53] Speaker B: Right. [00:45:54] Speaker C: But that's such a hard thing to balance because every time I try to go one, every time I try to clean up a little bit on one side, I drift too far that way and then I try to clean that up and I drift too far the other way. It's the hard thing to balance. [00:46:06] Speaker B: Let me Take over for you. [00:46:08] Speaker C: I'm done. [00:46:09] Speaker A: I know you're biting it to bits. [00:46:10] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:46:10] Speaker A: I want you to say that. [00:46:11] Speaker B: No, no, what. What I was going to say might have been. Been a little further back. I don't think there's anything wrong with drinking, but I know that I would make. But I mean, I don't. It's not even in my mind to have anything. I don't really care. But I don't criticize people. But I know if I was seen or if you were seen mostly you, not necessarily me. [00:46:40] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:46:41] Speaker B: It would be a. It will cause somebody else to fall. [00:46:45] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:46:45] Speaker B: This. It's not wrong in itself. I mean, there is. Don't be drunk with wine, but, you. [00:46:51] Speaker A: Know, but there's also a little one where your stomach. [00:46:53] Speaker B: And I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure Jesus had some wine. [00:46:56] Speaker A: Well, I'm pretty positive. [00:46:57] Speaker B: Yeah. And so, so. [00:47:00] Speaker A: And I don't have a problem, but. [00:47:02] Speaker B: But I, you know, there's a lot of things that I don't think are wrong that I don't do. Yeah. Because I know someone else does. [00:47:10] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:47:10] Speaker B: But working on Saturday, Sunday in your yard. I used to. I don't anymore because it makes. Don't mean a thing to me. [00:47:19] Speaker A: And you're retired. [00:47:20] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. [00:47:21] Speaker B: But someone. Yeah. Well, I'm probably tired, but I. I'm just not working. I'm unemployed. Yeah. I'll do things on Sunday only because it offends some older people. [00:47:32] Speaker A: Right. [00:47:33] Speaker B: And, you know, I don't need that. I don't need that hassle. But what you said is, you know, we, we are. And this is going on to another area that you're talking about. We do see different people. Each one of us see different people. I'll meet somebody that you will never meet. So we all have a world that we can link to Christ. You know, we all have someone that we would be the focal points for, you know, for somebody to receive the gospel. I meet people all day long that. He'll never meet you. Yeah, you do. He does. You know, so we all have our area of calling. We all have certain people that we need to, you know, talk about the gospel and don't miss. Miss that chance, you know, so. Okay. Clean it up. [00:48:30] Speaker A: No, I think you do a good job. I mean, I really do. I enjoyed that. I enjoyed that because I agree with you that each person is equipped to impact his world or her world for Christ. How that shapes out is going to be different for each person. For some, it might be that they can use a Special skill or a game off game. For some, it may be that maybe he can teach and preach for others. He knows. Knows a lot of people. Whatever the case may be, God brings that situation and it kind of goes back to that story of the pastor that is not looking for the next stepping stone. It's looking to say, God, I want to be faithful wherever you have me. And so how that shapes out is I want to be faithful today to whatever you put before me. And if then it ends up being that I get a promotion or I go to a church with 5,000 or this church grows to 5,000. [00:49:29] Speaker B: Good. [00:49:30] Speaker A: Because the truth of it is it wasn't. You did it anyway. [00:49:34] Speaker C: Yeah, it's. [00:49:35] Speaker A: And that's what gets me is some of these pastors feel like it's all. They did all this and I built all that. And I'm like, no, except for the grace of God, you wouldn't even have a. Have a place to serve, dude. Yeah. So don't, don't pat yourself on the back too much. [00:49:49] Speaker B: Yeah, let me, let me clean that point. No. [00:49:51] Speaker A: Oh, you don't clean that one up. Thank you. [00:49:54] Speaker B: But, but, but let's not get too prideful that I, you know, I won this person for Christ. No, nobody wins anybody. [00:50:05] Speaker A: What else. It goes back. [00:50:06] Speaker B: It's not one person. It's a whole. [00:50:08] Speaker A: That's right. [00:50:09] Speaker B: And if you now the person that they actually went to to have prayer and get saved, you know, they might get credit for it. But it's. It's been. [00:50:19] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a lot. [00:50:19] Speaker B: That has been work going on for a while. That's right. And I don't necessarily agree with. Well, that I might be the only light for somebody. I don't even know if that's in the Bible. Well, that was. I'm the only person. Well, that's a little prideful to me. I think God gives us more than just one. One chance. And I don't think one person is called to, you know, let's say you witness to somebody. Are you. And I've heard this and well, I did this all. I used to do this a lot. You felt a witness to somebody. Did you miss a chance? Yes. Is that the only chance they're going to get? I sure hope not, but it could be, you know, I mean. Yeah, I mean, I don't know, but. [00:51:02] Speaker A: It probably is it. But I mean, because Romans 1 testifies that, okay, there is a God. [00:51:08] Speaker B: There is a God, but it may. [00:51:09] Speaker A: Not have heard the gospel. Gospel. [00:51:11] Speaker B: But I don't think. Are or failure. If you want to get saved, you're going to get saved. If you, if you admit that you are a sinner, recognize you're a sinner, you're going to find the gospel. If you recognize you're a sinner and you. If you know the bad news and don't want to be part of the bad news, you're going to find the good news eventually. God's going to make a way. [00:51:37] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:51:37] Speaker B: And he. He's not dependent on one person. [00:51:41] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:51:42] Speaker B: Now, that's not it. Maybe it's not in the Bible, but that's just my thought. [00:51:46] Speaker C: Well, it's funny that you brought that up because that was actually part of my prayer the other day I was telling you about is that I'd heard that before or heard it said somewhere. You know, you may be the only lie, you know. [00:51:57] Speaker A: Well, you're the only Bible someone will. [00:51:59] Speaker C: Ever read something like that. Yeah, I've heard things like that and I get that. [00:52:02] Speaker B: I mean, I get it. [00:52:03] Speaker C: But at the same time as I'm. As I'm praying that day, I'm. I'm saying, you know, it's easy to, to take. And I'm. I'm real bad for this to, to take that and think, man, I'm really important. I've got to do a good job here because I'm the only person that there. I'm the only one in the world that can help this person know God. No, I'm not. Yeah. Nowhere close to that. [00:52:21] Speaker A: Right. Yeah. [00:52:22] Speaker C: If there is a. That's why I'm, you know, trying to clean my prayer up. [00:52:25] Speaker A: That's. [00:52:26] Speaker C: That happened me a lot while I'm praying, I'll notice the mistake and the error in what I'm saying and it'll help me to kind of think through a little bit of, okay, what. What is the right. And where I ended up with this is just if there's a role that you have for me to play in this situation, don't let me miss it. [00:52:40] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:52:41] Speaker A: Just let me obey. [00:52:42] Speaker C: Do what you need to do and let me know if I can. If I can be a part of it. And I don't even like to say, let me know if you need me, because you don't need. [00:52:49] Speaker A: No. He can do it with. Without me. The whole. And maybe that's the whole theme of today is be faithful where you are. If that's going to the gas station and some. And God's leading you to share with the person that you're pumping gas across from, share. If it's to just be faithful as a pastor, a Sunday school teacher, children's church work, whatever the case may be, be faithful where you are and share and show the love of Christ. That's all you. I mean, it's not complicated. [00:53:22] Speaker B: There's your title. [00:53:23] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:53:24] Speaker B: You don't have to think about it. Be faithful where you are. [00:53:27] Speaker A: Be faithful where you are. I like that. But. But it really is. I mean, I. That I'd give that word to every pastor I ever met that seem to be struggling is okay. Just be faithful where you are. Because if God wants to move you, he will. But just be faithful. If it's to be the pastor of 30 or a pastor of 3,000. [00:53:51] Speaker B: The grass is not greener on the other side. [00:53:53] Speaker A: No. [00:53:54] Speaker B: Well, it might be, but it might be a step. Take over there. Yeah. [00:53:57] Speaker A: It's true. And too many times. Too many times people think, okay. Oh, yeah. People that are. Are in a place that you want to be. They got it so much easier. [00:54:08] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:54:09] Speaker A: And tripping on. I. I'm sorry. I've yet to see it. But no matter what you make you spend and no matter how you think that they've got it easy. Notice headaches that go with every job today. [00:54:22] Speaker B: Go with any. Everybody. Yeah. Yeah. Nobody gets a free ride. I don't care if you're making all the money you can. [00:54:29] Speaker A: No. [00:54:29] Speaker B: Your parents die. Your people that you love die. [00:54:32] Speaker A: That's right. There's going to be problems in this world. You will have to be afraid that. [00:54:37] Speaker B: Someone'S going to take it away from you instead of, I wish I had that much. [00:54:41] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:54:42] Speaker B: Well, they're thinking, I'm afraid you're going to take it away. [00:54:44] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:54:44] Speaker B: I'm going to keep you. Yeah. So everybody has. And that don't resonate to me where I'm saying, well, afraid they're going to take away everything I have. But they. It does makes a big difference for. For a lot of people to have something. Yeah. They don't want to. They don't want to depart from it. [00:55:03] Speaker C: No. [00:55:03] Speaker A: Yeah. Your. Your biggest problem is, what am I going to do with all this? [00:55:07] Speaker B: My biggest problem is finding it. [00:55:09] Speaker A: Once you buried it. So many jars in the back, I. [00:55:12] Speaker B: Don'T remember where it's at. There's a time in my life I don't remember. [00:55:17] Speaker A: That's right. You know, man's got everything. Mason jars. [00:55:22] Speaker B: You don't know how many holes I had in my yard. [00:55:25] Speaker A: That's why you put all them. [00:55:27] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:55:27] Speaker C: Yeah. Even the. For the pastors, though, that. That Want to be the, you know, the mega churches and all this kind of stuff. Like, I get wanting to see the kingdom grow. I get that part. [00:55:38] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:55:38] Speaker C: Well, to me, it's. This might have even been another part of my prayer the other day, too, is that I can't imagine anything much more nauseating to God than a human trying to take credit for his work. And I think that goes on a lot and maybe even more so in churches than other places just because there's this. This is the place of God's work. Right. So we see a church go from 17 or whatever was here the first time I came in here to 200 or 250. I mean, it could be really easy to. For you to. Man, look what I've done. [00:56:09] Speaker A: And then. But then watch it go back down to 17, right? Yes. I mean, I think it goes back to, you know, I've always. I've always told people that you. You can choose two ways and you can choose your enemies. All right, all right. No, I got an enemy. [00:56:23] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:56:25] Speaker A: I don't need another one. And I sure don't need God as my enemy. But if I choose to operate in pride, that is where you're going to go ahead and put yourself as an enemy to God. Because God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And staying humble is not an easy thing. In fact, I dare say it's one of those things that when you say, oh, I'm humble. No, you're not. But it does have to be something that you realize it ain't. It ain't me that did this. It's the Lord. And don't, don't ever let get the big hit about it, because that's not the place I want to be. [00:57:03] Speaker B: I wouldn't say I'm humble, but I can say this. Oh. I mean, this is going to be one of those. [00:57:14] Speaker C: I'm not judging, but. [00:57:17] Speaker B: Of myself. I could do nothing without Christ. And I don't know if that's saying that I'm humble or not, but I have realized that I mess things up, and I'm not afraid to admit it. Yep. I'm not afraid to admit any. I'm not afraid to admit that I'm wrong anyway. [00:57:34] Speaker C: Well, then what I said a minute ago can have a lot of different applications. Don't try to take credit for God's word. [00:57:40] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:57:40] Speaker C: I mean, that can be in the church. That can apply to just about anything in your life, though. [00:57:45] Speaker A: I mean, it's what the proudest man in the Bible that learned the hardest Lesson from pride was probably one of the most pagan men in the Bible. Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar's walking around on his palace one day, and he sees all the kingdom and he thinks to himself, boy, I have done well. I've built this myself. And then he has a dream, and basically Daniel comes to him and says, oh, by the way, so you're going to spend some time out in the woods, bud, and you're going to spend it as an animal, and I'm going to teach you. I'm going to break you. And he learned what humility was. So, yeah, you don't have to be a Christian to walk in pride and realize God opposes the proud anyway. And I would submit, you know, if you're not. Not saved, then you probably are still walking in pride already of knowing. I think I know better than God does, or I'm. [00:58:34] Speaker B: Well, Peter talks about that. He says, if you don't humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, he's going to humble you. And if you don't cast your cares upon him, he's going to be afraid and fearful. Did I quote it right? [00:58:50] Speaker A: Sort of. [00:58:51] Speaker B: I think I quoted backwards. [00:58:52] Speaker A: You're close, but you're right. I mean, even casting your cares upon him is an act of humility because it's admitting, I'm not designed to carry these. I can't carry these. He's better equipped to handle this. But what do we do? Oh, I can handle this one. And rather than casting all our cares on him because he cares for us. [00:59:15] Speaker B: One of the big. [00:59:17] Speaker C: One of the toughest tests of pride, probably for me in. In recent memory, was when Gabe got baptized, because that's one that is easy to take some credit for. Teaching him, teaching him about God, talking to him about God, all these kind of things. And I knew better than to take credit for it, but it was an easy one to. To let slip in if I wasn't careful. [00:59:41] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:59:41] Speaker C: And I tried really hard to remember that around that time that, you know, don't. Don't be taking credit for what God did. This is his work. He lets you play a role in it. And that's great. But there's also a flip side to it, though, that I've said several times before about pride is that humility is a gift. When you ever get to that point where you recognize that you don't have to take the. And I already kind of see, I think where you might want to go with this after I finish. [01:00:10] Speaker A: But I'm liking This, but with. [01:00:13] Speaker C: If I. If I get to take pride in helping Gabe learn to know about Jesus, well, then I also have to take the responsibility of, oh, I better not mess it up with the other two. But when I'd look at. Okay, well, it's not really my job. My job's to teach and to guide and plant seeds and do these things and trust God to do that. It helps me rest a little bit easier with Reese and Christian coming along next because I have. I understand that I'm just this big of a part of his planet. He's 10, he's whatever. Infinite times bigger than me. And it gives. At the end of the day, trading humility for pride, or trading your pride in for humility gives you peace, right? Because it gets you out of the way and lets you focus on the fact that he's. He's in control, he's got it. And he loves them more than I do anyway, so pray for him. Do what you can to teach them and. And let him. He's. I'm there to plant, he's there to harvest. Right. [01:01:08] Speaker A: Right. [01:01:08] Speaker B: So you got it? [01:01:10] Speaker A: No. [01:01:11] Speaker C: You want that? [01:01:13] Speaker B: No, I'm. Let you chime in. [01:01:17] Speaker C: I mean, you still have to do your part. [01:01:18] Speaker A: I think it's one of those things of, you know, I hesitate to say because I. Look, man, I will be honest with you. I've. I've been proud of my kids before, and I don't think that's necessarily a sin. Sin. Like you said, what's the difference in. [01:01:34] Speaker C: A sin and a sin? [01:01:35] Speaker A: I don't think it's a sin to be man. I'm proud of my kids and the fact that they worked hard, they accomplished what they wanted to do, they came to know Christ, you know, I'm so thankful. And there's a. To me, it's a fine line between being thankful and having a pride about that than just being proud of. Well, look at my kid. He's just like me and he's. And he's this, that, and the other versus no man. I am proud of what the Lord's done. I'm proud of how the Lord thankful that he used me. And I think that maybe, maybe I'm just trying to figure out the difference between thankful and pride. And when I use pride, because I. [01:02:18] Speaker B: Noticed you were saying pride, thankful pride, thankfully. [01:02:21] Speaker A: But it's okay to be thankful. Lord, I am so thankful. But I'm proud of you, you know, Daniel, what did the man he's become, Nate, the person he's become and that God you were gracious to them. And, you know, it makes me, you know, just swell up inside. Not that I'm. Oh, look at me. I'm the best. Father Ward Cleaver wishes he had something on me. No, that's not it. It's more of. I'm proud of what God did through their lives. I'm thankful for that. So maybe I'm. Maybe I'm struggling. I'm struggling more than anybody today on this. [01:02:59] Speaker C: I would be challenged. This would be a fun little challenge. I don't know if there's anything. I have not thought of anything yet that I can say if you. That I can't replace I'm proud of with. I'm grateful for. There's nothing that I have that is. That I have to be proud for or I don't. There's nothing that I have to be proud of that God didn't do for me or that I can't give thanks to God for. [01:03:26] Speaker A: And we kind of talked about that at Thanksgiving. The pride and thank. Thankfulness are really the opposite of each other. [01:03:32] Speaker C: Yep. [01:03:32] Speaker A: And so maybe they're so opposite that they can also be substituted for. [01:03:37] Speaker B: Well, if you can change. If you can use. [01:03:39] Speaker C: Replace. [01:03:39] Speaker B: Yeah. Replace thankful with pride. With the word pride, when you talk about. I think it's Is being. Yeah. I don't think it's pride. Yeah. Pride is. Well, we all know what pride is. It's all about me. [01:03:52] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:03:53] Speaker B: And when you start talking about me, it sounds at least a bad taste in your mouth, you know, with other people that I did this and you see this watching sports and who are the ones that you. You kind of gravitate when they're doing an interview. Well, this was the game. I just got lucky. Well, yeah. You know, and that's not the truth of your skill, but. Yeah, I say that. I told them guys I was going to knock them up inside the head. [01:04:25] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:04:26] Speaker A: I told them. [01:04:27] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:04:27] Speaker A: Son, you've seen proud athletes. Terrell Owens. [01:04:31] Speaker B: Yeah, but not in the camera. Not all of them. No, I'll say. You will. You see if they've been school. They don't say that. What they. They don't say. They don't say what they say on the court. Yeah, I mean, I'm sure they'll say. [01:04:45] Speaker A: Well, more and more they are. I tell you what, I. I was highly disappointed and I'm just going to put it out there. Watch the NC North Carolina State High School championship games, man, I ain't never seen nothing. They act like they were. They acted like the the pros of 10 years ago, when we were all, Paul, can you believe he did that? And now they're doing that in high school. Like, it's every play and it's like, man, just act like you got some sense and play the game. [01:05:14] Speaker C: That's one of the things that I've. Watching sports. I still love to watch sports, but when. And I don't know if it's. [01:05:23] Speaker A: We might. [01:05:24] Speaker C: I might say this before, too. I don't know if this is every Christian or if it's just my hot button, because that's the thing God had to work on the most with me, with pride. But seeing pride is one of those things. It's like nails on a chalkboard. Can't stand it just. And you can't. You spot it quick and you can't miss it. Watching. Watching any sporting event now. And it's. There's a fine line there, too. You want your athletes to. To be confident and to. [01:05:45] Speaker A: And there's this confidence. They ain't got to be cocky. Right. [01:05:48] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:05:48] Speaker A: And. And, you know, a teammate, not just, you know, all about me. [01:05:53] Speaker C: Yeah. That's. When playing golf is. That's something I've, you know, know, worked on or practiced on a lot is. I never. I never would have associated golf and pride for me because I always felt like I had a lack of confidence playing golf. That was a big part of my. [01:06:07] Speaker A: Well, golf will humble you. [01:06:08] Speaker C: It will humble you. [01:06:09] Speaker A: At the same time, it can make you proud. [01:06:10] Speaker C: But at the same time, I mean, I was pretty good at it. And yeah, I was absolutely cocky at. [01:06:15] Speaker A: Certain you can get to the point you're so cocky that you're like, golly. [01:06:18] Speaker C: Yeah. But that's something more and more and more as I've been playing. Again, just recognizing that it's even. That is not something I get credit for. God gave me the ability to be able to swing a club, period, much less swing it well. And, you know, I've learned that there's even a couple of. You know, I did a physical assessment with a guy that does that. And even at 40 years old or whatever, when you look at, like, mobility and things like that, I've got more of it than. [01:06:44] Speaker A: Right. [01:06:44] Speaker C: You normally. Well, I certainly have done nothing to. To Cause that I didn't. That's right. Yeah. I didn't stretch. I didn't work out or anything like that. But it's just, you know, way I'm put together, maybe. But it's. You just. The more I look at it, the less that I have to be anything but thankful for. He did it all. There's not a thing. The air in my lungs to my kids and anything in between. What have I got to be proud of? I still am a lot of times, but I shouldn't be. [01:07:14] Speaker A: And maybe that's the same as worship and adoration. I'm proud of my, my God, what he did and what he's done and how he's done all these great things. Yeah, I don't know. Is that, am I going out on them there? [01:07:26] Speaker B: I think you're good though. I think you're good. But I mean, I like that. I just think if you can substitute thankful with pride, right word, pride, that's pretty much. I think you're on the right track. [01:07:39] Speaker C: I think I was so bad at saying I'm proud of this, proud of that, that when I started trying to work on pride, I started cleaning that up, up and it was just a challenge to me, I think at some point to say, okay, is there a way to say this without saying the word proud? And thankful for is the only thing that I found as a good substitute. And it's true. And anything that I found, there's anything you've got to be proud of, you should be thankful for the Christian world. [01:08:01] Speaker B: Pride is a dirty word. [01:08:03] Speaker C: Well, in the Bible it's a dirty word. Well, yeah, it's good reason. [01:08:07] Speaker B: What I'm saying is in the Christian world there's a lot of definitions for pride. It's not just being boastful or self. [01:08:17] Speaker A: Centered or self centered. I suck on myself. [01:08:19] Speaker B: But we. But it has a bad name, right? Yeah, the word. I'm talking about just the word, not the meaning I'm talking about. You know how we use pride? Because we use pride for thankful, being thankful. We use pride for other things. But, but when you say pride, everybody looks up and says, yeah, that's a bad thing, but it's not necessarily bad. [01:08:41] Speaker C: I seriously don't even think I knew it was a. In society, pride is not a bad thing. It's celebrated you being here. And I remember somebody in an, in an argument calling me out for my pride and me thinking, why are you calling me out? Pride's a good thing to have. Why are you knocking me down for having pride? [01:08:58] Speaker A: At least be self confident. [01:08:59] Speaker C: Yeah, I've got, I understand what they meant now. [01:09:01] Speaker B: I was in a deacon's meeting and I actually had that happen Sunday. It, I was thankful, but I, I think I use. I'm proud of you guys. Now is that pride or is that that's thankful. Yeah. And I caught myself saying, oh, I should be using that word. Yeah, I did. But, yeah, that's. That's what I meant. I was thankful for them. [01:09:24] Speaker C: Yeah, well. And I get. I tell the kids, I'm proud of you sometimes. [01:09:27] Speaker A: There's nothing wrong with that. Hey, man, it. [01:09:29] Speaker B: It cockiness. [01:09:30] Speaker A: I am. I am proud to know that I know you. [01:09:34] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:09:34] Speaker A: And I'm proud to be your daddy, man. It makes me happy inside to be your dad. [01:09:40] Speaker B: You. [01:09:40] Speaker A: You've. [01:09:41] Speaker B: You've. [01:09:41] Speaker A: You've done well. I mean, look, Proverbs 31. When he begins to describe his wife or that woman, and then at the end, you know, many have saw this, but you've done well. I don't know. I just think there's a. It's okay to be thankful to the point of man, I am just so proud of you. [01:09:59] Speaker B: You. [01:09:59] Speaker A: I'm proud of my wife, you know. [01:10:01] Speaker B: I'm proud to be married to who I am. To. To. To who I am. [01:10:05] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:10:05] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, yeah. [01:10:06] Speaker B: You know, so she is too. [01:10:14] Speaker A: Now. [01:10:14] Speaker C: I think the word you're looking for is tolerance. [01:10:17] Speaker B: Yeah, she is very tolerant. [01:10:20] Speaker C: Oh, the church is a good example of that. You know, to kind of put a bow on this, maybe. But what I was saying earlier about the church, you know, for somebody who doesn't. Doesn't believe or has a bad image of Christians, I would be very proud to bring them to our church and feel confident that they would get an accurate representation of what the church is supposed to look like. But again, to use the word pride in that sentence is not appropriate. I didn't create that. I did nothing to make that. I'm thankful that that's where God led me. So it's. I'm telling you, it's a. It's a challenge to try to find a place that prod. [01:10:56] Speaker B: Works. [01:10:56] Speaker C: Well, I think it's everyone. [01:10:58] Speaker B: Yeah. There's not a bad word. It's just we have a bad thought. All the thought processes. [01:11:06] Speaker A: I know one or two bad words. [01:11:08] Speaker B: Well, I'm saying the words. Yeah, but the words itself. But it's how we use it. It's. This is where you sin. Yeah. When you act, you've already. I mean, you've seen a long time. What. Way back there. Act is the last part of sin. But you've already done it. [01:11:26] Speaker C: Yeah, that's true. [01:11:27] Speaker A: But it really does go back. If you stop thinking about it, it goes back to a lot of that balance that, that walk by the spirit. Balance is what I call it, that you're Able to determine right and wrong, determine how much left, how much right, how much grace, how much, how much pride versus no, all that. It all goes back to balance. And I think your balance is going to come daily. Walk with the Lord, seeking him, giving it all you got. I mean, one of the things that we talked about Sunday was what it means to seek the King. It means that he is the center of your thought life. He is the focus. He is the motivation for your action. He is what drives you. And when Christ is the one driving you, he helps you to work out all those things and he helps you to balance all those things. So that's what I would encourage each and every person to get to the place where allowing the Lord to do that. [01:12:25] Speaker B: And then. And the Bible says, therefore, be ye balanced. [01:12:29] Speaker A: Be ye balanced. Yeah. [01:12:32] Speaker B: Therefore, be balanced. [01:12:33] Speaker A: Come out from amongst them and be balanced. [01:12:38] Speaker C: Yeah, that's. [01:12:38] Speaker B: That's. That's it. Yeah. [01:12:40] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:12:41] Speaker C: All right, boys. Merry Christmas, everybody. [01:12:43] Speaker A: Merry Christmas. [01:12:44] Speaker B: And a happy New Year. [01:12:46] Speaker A: Yeah. Hope you get plenty of peanuts. Christmas. [01:12:51] Speaker C: We. [01:12:52] Speaker B: So did you find out out what's that? [01:12:55] Speaker A: When it was. I mean, you're looking mighty. [01:12:57] Speaker B: Oh, I remember. Yeah. [01:12:59] Speaker C: Oh, we looking at them. [01:13:02] Speaker B: I made a sound chat, but I. [01:13:04] Speaker A: Oh, I got you. [01:13:07] Speaker C: We'll just start the show. He can chime in when he want. I mean. [01:13:10] Speaker B: Okay, I'm ready. [01:13:11] Speaker C: You don't have to be mentally present for the whole. [01:13:15] Speaker B: Have one more. [01:13:16] Speaker A: Here we go. [01:13:18] Speaker B: We all. Oh, got too many peanuts. I know. [01:13:22] Speaker A: Not enough juice.